Oklahoma! – Young Vic Theatre

Arthur Darvill and Patrick Vaill in Oklahoma! at the Young Vic Theatre, London. Pictures: Marc Brenner

Oklahoma! continues at the Young Vic Theatre, London until 25 June 2022.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

It says something about the unconventionality of Bard Summerscape’s ground-breaking production of Oklahoma! that it is as memorably unsettling on a second viewing as it was the first time around.

Back in 2019, witnessing Daniel Fish and Jordan Fein’s reinvention and deconstruction of this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre, transferred from Brooklyn’s St Ann’s Warehouse, rather blew my mind.

Many critics have suggested that purists will find this alternative take on Oklahoma! hard to bear and they are right to some extent. When the house lights are up (which they frequently are) in what becomes a claustrophobic arena – with the audience seated on all three sides of the action – it is sometimes easy to spot who is fully engaged and who isn’t.

But the fact that this is a Marmite kind of production adds to its allure and emphasises what a wonderful art-form musical theatre is. Just as new perspectives can enliven a great play, so the same can be said of a vintage musical. An audience can appreciate both the traditional and the revolutionary.

It’s not easy to describe everything that makes this staging so incredibly different – it is an extreme, sensory experience, that will stay with you for a good while afterwards – but let’s just say it is R&H stripped down to the bare essentials.

There’s no room, literally and metaphorically, for the distraction of overblown sets and costumes or big production numbers packed with high-kicking choreography. All the focus is on the bare bones of the book and score and the repercussions are completed unexpected.

This is not a romantic, idealistic world full of potential but one in which the majority of the characters are feeling trapped, in competition with each other, struggling to see what the future holds and bubbling over with anger and frustration.

Specific lighting (Scott Zielinksi) and sound (Drew Levy) techniques accentuate these tensions. The scene when Arthur Darvill’s Curly visits Jud (Patrick Vaill) at the smokehouse, having discovered the farmhand has asked the object of his affections – Laurey (Anoushka Lucas) – to the dance, begins in pitch darkness with both speaking their dialogue into a microphone. The affect is chilling, as is the presence of an onstage camera projecting close-ups of the men’s faces onto the farm country landscape of Laura Jellinek and Grace Laubacher’s wood-panelled set.

Love doesn’t seem to be the motivation in either of the show’s romantic triangles, the other being between Will (James Davis), Ado Annie (Marisha Wallace) and Ali (Stavros Demetraki). Instead it comes down to possession and rampant sexual desire. It’s truly like meeting these characters for the very first time and it turns out the vast majority of them aren’t particularly likeable.

Marisha Wallace and James Davis

Vital to the success of the production are Daniel Kluger’s bluegrass-inspired contemporary orchestrations and arrangements written for a small but perfectly formed band (including banjo, mandolin, electric guitar and pedal steel guitar) led by MD Tom Brady, rather than a huge orchestra. Kluger displays a deep respect for the original compositions but also discovers something fresh in the score rarely heard before. The underscoring between the musical numbers is a treat in itself.

Some of the most memorable musical moments come when members of the excellent cast are interacting with the band, grabbing the nearest microphone and giving performances that are raw and unplugged. An accomplished musician as well as a captivating actor, Darvill often accompanies himself on acoustic guitar and loses himself in the music – a sign perhaps that Curly is more wrapped in himself than the relationships he forms with others.

A charismatic Wallace follows up her show-stopping rendition of ‘I Cain’t Say No’ with a rocky reprise that demonstrates Ado Annie’s freedom of expression, a quality somewhat restricted by those around her as the evening reaches its conclusion.

Kluger also excels himself with the soundscape for the powerful dream ballet, choreographed by John Heginbotham, which opens Act II. This solo tour de force from Marie-Astrid Mence, along with Lucas’ hypnotic a cappella version of ‘Out of My Dreams’ which closes Act I, are stunning. The scenes also relate to the way different genders are portrayed in the piece. Later on, when the womenfolk’s food baskets are auctioned off at the box social, it’s Ado Annie and Laurey who stand up to wait for the bidding.

Ultimately it is the final wedding scene, during which Jud gate-crashes Curly and Laurey’s wedding, that has the biggest impact of all. All of the characters present are flawed but the injustice of what takes place to the outsider is unforgivable. This is also accentuated by Vaill’s portrayal of Jud (he joins from the New York production, as does Davis as Will), whose sadness and vulnerability no longer make him the stereotypical villain.

Suddenly it is the members of a kangaroo court, led by an intimidating Aunt Eller (Liza Sadovy), that become the villains as the Oklahoma! we thought we knew comes kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

The Oklahoma! I saw at the Palace Theatre in 1980, my first visit to a West End musical, could not be further away from the show currently playing at the Young Vic Theatre. Isn’t it refreshing that both now exist, that one informs the other, and while the original will always remain close to my heart l I will never look at it from the same perspective ever again? Isn’t that what art is all about?

Lisa Martland